The Middle East and Africa 's largest fixed line operator is set to replace 12 of its billing systems with replacements from Convergys Corporation...

The Financial Post, one of Kenya 's leading business weekly newspapers with 50,000 readers, has taken serious steps towards data protection with the implementation of American Power Conversion Back-UPS uninterruptible power supplies...

Despite the liberalisation of the Internet market in Yemen , the Arab Advisors Group believes that this market has high entry barriers...

Vicente Fox, Mexico 's head of state, is under pressure from the country's competition chief to create a challenge to the private monopoly of Telmex. Eduardo Pérez Motta, head of the Federal Competition Commission (CFC) has identified a slowing-down on the path to full competition, which could have implications affecting the ultimate implementation of a level playing-field.

Nokia and Ukrainian mobile services operator Astelit, which operates under the brand name life:), have extended their existing frame agreement for the supply of network equipment and services...

Baidu.com, a major Chinese language Internet search provider, and Nokia are collaborating to make mobile search easier and more convenient in Chinese-speaking markets, including mainland China , Hong Kong , and Taiwan...

The Bolivian Power Company (COBEE, or Compañía Boliviana de Energía Eléctrica) has integrated its SCADA, PLC, data information and telephony transport services by deploying Optimux-XLE1 optical multi-plexers manufactured by RAD Data Communications...

Sky Link, the telecoms holding company established to develop a nationwide CDMA450 network in Russia , has selected Lucent to expand and upgrade Sky Link's network within ten new regions in Russia , thereby supporting additional services...

KazakhTelecom, Kazakhstan 's national carrier, along with Lucent and Winncom Technologies, will be deploying a new, Internet protocol (IP)-based next-generation network for KazakhTelecom in Astana, the nation's new capital. It will support advanced voice and data services for business and residential subscribers...

Lucent will be extending three existing frame agreements with Telekomunikacja Polska for the delivery of switching and broadband access equipment, as well as services to enhance TP's national broadband access network. The total value of the extensions amounts to US$36 million for 2006...

Nokia is now the first equipment vendor to manufacture both mobile devices and network infrastructure equipment in India . It has also achieved the milestone of manufacturing over one million handsets in India , the market set to become the second biggest mobile device market in the world in terms of volumes by 2010...

In a move to further consolidate its market position, Subex Systems Ltd, the Bangalore-based telecom software product company, has announced an agreement with Virginia-based Mantas Inc. to acquire its business assets related to fraud management...

 Liberian policy analyst Francis Nyepon describes the recent fate of The Liberia Telecommunications Corporation in a blistering article first published in The Liberian Times - and deserving a far wider readership. In the article, which is published in full and with Francis Nyepon's permission, the author expresses his trenchant views which may resonate with industry experts elsewhere. Both he and Developing Telecoms welcome any comment or discussion - for publication or privately. Anonymity will be guaranteed if requested.

NMS Communications has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Openera Technologies, a provider of mobile application handset solutions for converged mobile networks...

"SMS still top service for Asia-Pacific mobile phone users," declares International Data Corporation (IDC) after its recent survey of 4,056 urban Internet users. So far, so good...

Globe Telecom is read yi ng itself to launch 3G in the rural parts of The Philippines now that is has started to roll out its 3G network in several central urban business districts...

Morocco 's national ICT strategy must aim at reducing the digital divide and propelling the Kingdom into the ranks of the leading members of the digital society.

Nokia has won a managed services contract from "du" (a new participant in the growing United Arab Emirates (UAE) market) whereby it is to supply the entire core and a large proportion of the radio network for GSM/GPRS/EDGE and WCDMA 3G...

With the advent of blade and other high-density server configurations, heat densities continue to climb to challenging levels. In many instances, the amount of heat generated per rack exceeds what traditional data centre cooling solutions can handle effectively...

Deutsche Telekom AG has registered a growth in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) which is pla yi ng an active role in underpinning the group total earnings.

Nokia is set to expand GSM/GPRS/EDGE network coverage for Thailand's second largest mobile operator Total Access Communication PLC as part of an existing exclusive frame agreement...

Lucent Technologies has completed the first stage of deploying a real-time charging solution for Russian mobile service provider MegaFon...

Subex Systems Ltd, the Bangalore-based telecom software company, is in discussion with several telcos for a beta site for its Ontrack end-to-end subscriber risk management solution...

Turkish satellite operator Turksat has ordered its sixth communications satellite from France' s Alcatel...

Nigeria will become Africa 's largest telecommunications market, with penetration topping 41%, in four years time.

Nokia has now opened the extension to its Reynosa , Tamaulipas plant in Mexico , which is intended to boost its mobile-device production...

Nokia intends to strengthen its multidisciplinary design unit by forming a single company-wide design organisation...

Algeria' s rising demand for telephony has created a new opportunity for the country's major mobile operator. Orascom Telecom has teamed up with its fellow Egyptian company Telecom Egypt to set up Consortium Algerien de Telecommunication and run Algeria' s second fixed-line system.

Declaring that it is ready for competition with Etisalat, Emirates Integrated Telecommunication Company (EITC, UAE's second telecommunications operator) has announced that it will launch mobile phone services in the second half of this year, and will aim for 30% market share within three years...

CoreMedia, a provider of interoperable digital rights management, has announced that Vivo, the largest mobile operator in the Southern Hemisphere, has selected CoreMedia DRM for its comprehensive digital content services. Also ordered are the MMBox/DiNO Platforms from Portugal Telecom Inovação...

Propelled to new heights by competition, GSM lines in Saudi Arabia grew by 44.8% rate in the first eleven months of 2005 to reach 13.3 million. Fixed line, however, grew by a meagre 2.5% in the first nine months of 2005.

Thomson Cirpack soft switches have been purchased by Americatel, an affiliate of Chile' s national telecommunications carrier Entel, and service provider in Guatemala , Honduras , Peru and El Salvador..